


Royal Affairs

by Kimmy



Category: Vampire Academy & Related Fandoms, Vampire Academy (2014), Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Adorable, Blind Date, Christian In Glasses, F/F, Fake Marriage, Fluff, Flustered Mason, Getting Together, How Do I Tag, King Christian, M/M, Matchmaking, Modern Royalty, Pining Mason, Queen Lissa, namely Christian/Lissa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 09:57:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13633956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimmy/pseuds/Kimmy
Summary: To their people and the outside world, King Christian and Queen Lissa are happily married. But the reality is vastly different - their relationship fits solely their political ambitions and works as a cover for the truth about the Queen's relationship, not just with a woman, but one of a lower status. Kind Christian meanwhile, is equally uninterested in the opposite gender... but painfully single.





	Royal Affairs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Takara_Phoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takara_Phoenix/gifts).



> Written for the Tumblr prompt:  
> "Medieval AU. King!Christian, Queen!Lissa, knight!Mason who doesn't know king and queen aren't actually together, handmaiden-who-secretly-trains-with-the-knights-and-sleeps-with-the-princess!Rose. Christian and Lissa totally professionally keeping the cover of a proper royal couple... to the outside world"  
> It ended up being modern royalty with side blind dating instead and way too long for a tumblr prompt.

“Okay, boys, who’s ready to get their asses kicked toda–”

Rose stopped dead in her tracks as she entered the armory to find out Jesse and the other knights weren’t there, and instead, it was Mason, the First Knight. The ever-proper, ever polite, best of the best but painfully rule-abiding Mason Ashford. This was… not good.

“Sir Mason. I… Didn’t expect to find you here.”

He kept looking at her strangely, a bit like a deer caught in the headlights, or a gentleman who run into an undressed maiden. Confused, surprised and blushing slightly but unwilling to let the guarded facade down. Despite that, he smiled at her, pretending to be casual.

“Yes, I can see that.”

“I was just here to… To…” Coming up with an excuse for the Queen’s handmaiden to be in the armory proved harder than she thought. Surprisingly Rose just never needed an excuse before.

“Rose! You ready to see my wrath today? I bet I can beat you with a battle ax…”

Rose’s eyes widened and Mason’s eyebrow shot up as the other knights poured into the room, not noticing the redhead where he was hidden by Rose’s silhouette. Eddie laughed, punching Jesse in the shoulder as they approached.

“As if anyone could stand a chance against Rose with a battle ax, man. Even Mason couldn’t dream of–”

Words died on Eddie’s lips as his eyes fell on the other figure in the room. Rose’s face, the knights standing behind her and rattling her out, if unconsciously, made honestly quite a humorous picture.

“Mason.”

“Eddie.”

An awkward silence fell among them as Rose and Mason stayed locked in a staring contest, Eddie and Jesse guiltily shuffling around. Finally, Mason grabbed four battle axes off the wall, handing two to the handmaiden.

“Do you think you can show me what you can do while still in the dress, Miss Hathaway?”

The answering grin on Rose’s face was positively devilish, and five minutes later, as he landed on his ass with one of Rose’s axes under his chin, Mason decided he was glad to run into the clandestine training session.

***

Mason and Rose had become fast friends after that day. Now that she knew he wasn’t always so eager to follow rules and was no longer forced to sneak around him, Rose came down to train with the knights quite often.

“You are suspiciously rarely busy for the Queen’s handmaiden, Miss Hathaway…”

Rose turned to him with a coquettish smile, but she could already feel her brain running out of excuses.

“The Queen is a busy woman, Sir Ashford, and I cannot always accompany her to official meetings of state matters and…”

“…and her quarters clean themselves?”

Rose stopped in her tracks and turned to Mason.

“You ask a lot of questions, Mase.”

“Rose, come on. You’re a woman with a lot of secrets, they just fascinate me.” He smiled in what he hoped was a friendly and not threatening manner, but Rose clearly took it as an attempt at seduction.

“I am taken, Mason, so don’t even think about it.”

“What?”

He almost choked on air, the very concept of being with Rose, with anyone but… Mason wasn’t exactly interested in dating. The only person he was into was off the market, so he didn’t care.

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

Rose just laughed, putting her sword away, leaving poor training dummy alone and sitting next to him.

“Oh, Duckie, you are too chivalrous for your own good. I feel like I can trust you with things I cannot trust anyone with and yet… I cannot trust you, can? With Lissa, I cannot trust anyone, because it’s not just my secret.”

Mason raised an eyebrow at Rose, blinking a few times.

“You do realize you just rattled out that you and The Queen share a secret?”

“I…”

“You, Rose Hathaway, are a horrible liar, and I sincerely hope you never get kidnapped because if it happens the kingdom is doomed. Not that it would be easy to kidnap you, so maybe we’re safe.”

Rose laughed, before putting on a thinking face.

“Well, they could always me from our bed…”

The cogs in Mason’s brain suddenly turned into the right position and everything clicked.

“Our… Holy shit, Rose, you are sleeping with Queen Vasilisa!”

He barely finished the sentence before Rose put a hand on his mouth, frantically looking around.

“For fuck’s sake, Mason, you can’t say things like that aloud!”

“Chill, Hathaway. We’re alone. But the Queen is married! What about the King?”

“Oh, Mase, you can be really slow at times. Have you never noticed that even in public the King never kisses her, only on the cheek? We were together even before they got married, their relationship is just a front for the public. Christian agreed to it so he could take the throne, and he is not into women either, so Lissa was a perfect choice. She is like a sister to him!”

“So… You’re really the Queen’s beloved and the King has a lover of his own?”

Rose sighed, head leaning on Mason’s shoulder.

“Sadly, not. Me and Lissa, we are together, but Christian has no one. But he could really do with a sweetheart of his own, he is unbearably grumpy about being single. Then again, it’s not like he can really look for someone while being married and the King.”

“I guess not…”

Mason agreed, but his mind was already working full force. This was really interesting…

***

“Rose. Rose, no, this is a bad idea, I should…”

Rose stopped in the middle of the corridor, turning to Mason and leveling him with a glare.

“Ashford. Chill a bit. Just think about it like a meeting with my friends. Because that’s what it is. You’re not meeting Queen and King tonight. You know them already. Tonight, you are meeting my girlfriend Lissa and our lonely puppy Christian.”

“Puppy?”

“Just come along, Mase.”

***

Meeting King and Queen… Christian and Lissa. (They insisted on being on the first name basis, and it was altogether weird for Mason.) Meeting Christian and Lissa went a lot better than he expected. He was surprised by how normal and casual they were. They always kept the fancy facade in public, and he was slightly afraid they may be snobbish but Lissa turned out to be the sweetest person he ever met and Christian was surprisingly shy and quiet, although witty and confident, while he wasn’t forced to stand tall and proud.

He actually… Became friends with them?

It took a while, but Rose kept inviting him over and as First Knight, Mason spent a lot of his time with the King anyway. So somehow, over the course of next few weeks, Mason became part of the royal inner circle and best friend to King Christian. It was ridiculously surreal, but also pretty awesome.

Because Christian? Christian was absolutely amazing. And if Mason had a crush on him when he got to watch him be King from afar, now that he got to know him as a person it grew into full-blown love.

He turned to take his armor off, Christian already undressed and having dismissed his squire sitting down with a long-suffering sigh next to him. Confused, Mason turned his gaze in the direction Christian was looking in and saw Rose and Lissa making out in the hidden corner of the gardens, safe from any prying eyes except for theirs trusted ones.

“Are you sure you are fine with your wife having a girlfriend?”

Christian turned to Mason with a bitter but amused smirk.

“I am not interested in Lissa, nor any woman for that matter. It’s just… Sometimes it’s almost impossible to watch them be disgustingly cute while I am painfully alone.”

Mason looked at Christian, a plan starting to form in his head. No one deserved to be lonely and especially not him.

“Then why don’t you get out there and find someone?”

Christian laughed, loud and joyful, Mason’s favorite sound in the world.

“I don’t know if you noticed, Mason, but I am afraid I am married and the King. Doesn’t make for a good dating possibility.”

“Not really, no. But I have an idea…”

***

Mason’s plan was altogether catastrophic if anyone asked Rose. Honestly, Christian didn’t seem overly enthusiastic either, but he was just as smitten and just as oblivious as Mason, so he would probably agree to do anything for the redhead.

He did agree.

He let Mason put him in a blond wig, stuff him in jeans and a hoodie and put on glasses, setting him up on a blind date under the name Dominic.

Truly, there needed to be something to be done about it, thought Rose, coming back from telling some poor guy who got dragged into this mess that unfortunately his date with Dominic tonight was canceled.

She entered the royal chambers to find Lissa adding last touches to Christian’s disguise.

“Is that really necessary?”

Christian flinched away from the make up brush.

“Yes. And now…” Rose’s grin turned positively predatory. “Your turn, Mason.”

“What?”

The knight turned around, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Oh, admit it, Duckie, you’re just as sulkily single. You need to get out there too. Which is why me and Lissa, since we are amazing friends, decided to help you out and arranged a blind date for you too. Now, Chris, you got an address where you’re meeting your date here. Run along while we take care of your Knight.”

Christian grudgingly took the envelope, sending Mason a last sympathetic look before going out. This was going to be a long night…

***

Dragging Rose and Lissa into the blind dating plan for Christian was a terrible idea, Mason thought on his way to the address they had given him. The note in the envelope said there was no need to knock - the door would be open.

Hesitantly, Mason pressed the handle, entering the tiny flat. He took his coat off, putting it on the hanger and went further in, from the claustrophobic hall into the open space of kitchen where his date was supposed to be waiting.

And he stopped dead.

“Christian?”

The King brought his head up from where he was sitting at the table, fiddling with something.

“…Mason. What are you–?”

Words died on Christian’s lips as he realized what happened.

“Check the door please.”

A second later Mason back in the kitchen, standing in front of Christian, shaking his head.

“Locked.”

“There was an envelope on the table.”

He handed it to Mason, leaving opening it to the knight, and Mason hesitantly tore through the paper, taking out a note and reading it aloud.

“Dear Idiots, you are both hopelessly in love with each other. Do something about it. I’ll be back to unlock the door tomorrow at noon. Yours, Rose and Lissa.”

Mason swallowed, unwilling to bring his eyes up and look at Christian.

“Is it true? What Rose said about you being in love with me?”

Grudgingly Mason looked at Christian, aware the answer was obvious in his eyes.

“Is it true about you?”

His words were quiet but perfectly audible in the silence between them, and Christian didn’t answer at first, just taking in the way Mason looked in the soft candlelight, red hair glowing like fire and freckles more prominent.

In the end, Mason never broke eye contact. In the end, Christian was the one to lean in and connect their lips. It was high time for honesty.

They spoke in soft voices, exchanging whispered love declarations, letting their bodies speak for them. In the end, Rose and Lissa chose wisely to lock them in a flat with a king’s bed for the night.


End file.
